Russian Blues
by lena haloway
Summary: Missing moment, Post-TGL, Pre-TIS. / "I didn't really know if that was a valid argument, seeing as Adrian was distracted by a lot of things. Fondue. T-shirts. Kittens." / For Subtlynice.


a short, pointless one-shot for Subtlynice. she'd mentioned on tumblr that while we had witnessed adrian being distracted by T-shirts and fondue in TIS, we hadn't seen kittens. she theorized that it may have happened sometime between TGL and TIS, and wanted a fic about it. so i stepped up and wrote one.

this also serves as a way for me to get my feet in the water of this fandom, something i've been wanting to do for a while. (:

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**summary: **"I didn't really know if that was a valid argument, seeing as Adrian was distracted by a lot of things. Fondue. T-shirts. Kittens."  
**disclaimer: **disclaimed.

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For the first time since arriving at Palm Springs and finally growing comfortable around my new family of vampires, I felt like an outcast.

It'd been a few weeks since Adrian's declaration of love, and the awkward aftermath of it was taking its sweet time dying down. I was pointedly ignored by both him and Jill; Eddie, oblivious to what had happened a few weeks ago, was at a loss as to how to alleviate the awkward situation, and chose to direct his attention to his newfound relationship, which in turn made Jill even more troubled; and the heavy tension in the Donahue living room was obvious enough for even Angeline to pick up on.

"Why's everyone so upset lately?" she asked tactlessly.

"People," Jill answered, at the same time Adrian replied with "Lack of alcohol."

I stayed silent, though I knew Eddie at least had to know I was the source of the awful moods those two were in—well, Jill anyway. When she first started with the hostility, he'd questioned me and I'd told him I'd set some new rules Jill wasn't happy with. I didn't think he bought it, but he had nothing else to go on. And Adrian—well, he was Adrian; Eddie was used to his mood swings, and might have even bought Adrian's quip about lack of alcohol.

Life has certainly been trying lately.

Probably having had enough of the black cloud hanging above us all, Eddie reached for the remote on the coffee table and turned on the TV. Angeline scooted closer against his side, and he put his arm around her affectionately. I saw Jill tense beside me at this, and she took a break from her hostile disposition to grimace at the two.

Despite how annoyed I was at how I was being treated, I couldn't help but feel bad for her. And a little guilty, since I was the one who had unknowingly given her false hope about Eddie. I wondered idly if that was another reason for her anger.

Adrian sat on Jill's other side, amazingly managing a flippant air to his brooding attitude. I sighed, pondering how long this tantrum of his was going to last.

The channel Eddie left the TV on was Animal Planet, and they seemed to be having a marathon of a show about kittens in their first month or so of life. It was cute, and I wasn't the only one who thought so. Adrian and Jill were soon distracted from their sour moods as their attentions turned to the kittens that had just opened their eyes. It lifted the tension in the room somewhat.

The show went on to introduce us to different breeds of kittens, and I couldn't help but notice how avidly Adrian was watching. His sulking was almost nonexistent now. His lips would twitch when the kittens did anything particularly adorable, and for the first time since our kiss at his apartment, he seemed pretty at ease.

However, when the narrator introduced the litter of Russian Blues, he got up to get a drink. As he passed, I heard him mutter something like, "Fucking Russians following me everywhere."

Dorothy, Clarence's housekeeper, appeared at the entrance to the living room to let us know dinner was ready. A mercy. With the spell of the kittens' adorableness broken, Jill shot up, all too eager to get some distance from the two lovebirds cuddling in the loveseat, and hurried out of the living room. The rest of us followed suit, and I found myself walking in pace with Adrian. He crossed his arms and sped up, and I felt an unexpected pang of hurt.

"I made manicotti," Dorothy announced, oblivious to the tension that refused to completely let up.

Angeline brightened at this; her new life in Palm Springs had opened up a world of new experiences previously unknown to her when she'd lived with the Keepers, food being one of them. Of the many different cuisines she'd been introduced to (mostly from Dorothy and her adventurous—yet successful—tendencies in the kitchen), her favorite had been Italian.

"I miss home, but I love the food here," she gushed to Eddie, who laughed indulgently. It was still a bit odd to me, the 180 his attitude had done in regards to her. And I couldn't help but bitterly compare it to the 180 Adrian had done on me.

"It's nice to see how open you are to trying new things," Adrian said diplomatically, and I pursed my lips at the dig. He didn't look at me, but I could sense his smugness. I saw Jill's lips twitch into a half-smile.

Taking a deep breath, I settled into my seat at the table. Adrian sat in front of me, Jill at his side. Our eyes met for half a second before he looked away. I sighed.

Dorothy sat each of our plates down in front of us before taking her own seat at the table. Clarence, now awake from his nap, walked into the dining room.

"Good evening, Mr. Donahue," I greeted.

He squinted my way, and smiled. "Hello, my dear. How are you all this evening?"

A chorus of polite "fine's" filled the room, but they couldn't block out Adrian's somewhat dramatic, "Heartbroken."

I let out a breath of exasperation.

"Heartbroken, eh? It's been so long, I'm afraid I don't have any advice on that," Clarence mused, sitting down at the table.

"I hear cats do a good job of filling the void," Adrian said, pushing his food around with his fork. "Maybe all I need is Russian Blue kitten."

I'd long since stopped trying to follow his wacky trains of thought.

"So are you all ready for your trip guys?" Eddie asked.

I nodded, both nervous and a tad bit excited about it. "My flight and room are booked, and I just bought my wedding gift yesterday," I answered conversationally.

Adrian's only response was a shrug.

"I wish we could all go with you," Angeline said. "Though your weddings are probably very different from what I'm used to." She frowned.

I bit back a smile. "Probably." I fully expected Adrian to make a quip about stepping out of your comfort zone, but he stayed mercifully silent.

The rest of dinner was mostly quiet, though not as awkward as our time in the living room. Clarence filled the silence every now and then, and we all smiled kindly at him. Thankfully, there was no more talk of broken hearts or Russian Blues. When we were all finished we made our way back to the living room to watch more kittens, as we still had a little more time before Amberwood's curfew. Despite the unease in our group, I think we all liked to take full advantage of moments when we didn't have to worry about our charade in Palm Springs.

I was seated by Jill and Adrian once more, my gaze wandering around the room when I saw it. A fat, black spider came crawling into the living room. I swallowed back my initial scream, but the sudden jolt of fear that racked my body alerted everyone else to my distress.

"What's wrong?" Eddie asked, guardian-ready as always. Part of me wanted to send him to get rid of it, but I was too embarrassed to ask.

I took a deep breath and got up. Grabbing an empty cup and a magazine from the coffee table, I warily approached the creepy little beast. With every ounce of courage I had, used the magazine to push the spider into the cup, and then promptly placed it over the cup. I walked to the front door and opened it, all the while trying not to think about the fact that my unprotected hand was millimeters away from the little monster, separated only by a thin piece of plastic.

Too disgusted to be gentle, I flipped the cup and dumped the spider to the ground. Its legs flailed around, and I shuddered, trying not to gag. I hurried inside, and had an irrational urge to lock the door.

"Wow," Adrian said, startling me, "I didn't know you actually faced down things that scared you. I thought your normal response was to run kicking and screaming from them and pretend they don't exist."

I bristled at the comment. "I am _not _pretending you don't exist," I argued. "And I'm not afraid of you."

"Could've fooled me."

I'd had enough. "_You're _the one being so awful to me! Excuse me for trying to avoid digs like the one you just made."

He rolled his eyes and turned around, making his way back to the living room. I grudgingly followed behind. The group looked at us questioningly as we each took our seats.

"Sage is afraid of spiders," Adrian explained mockingly. He took a sip of the wine Clarence had offered him earlier.

"Why?" Angeline asked, furrowing her eyebrows at me.

I flushed. "A lot of people are afraid of spiders," I defended.

A moment of silence filled the room, before Adrian broke it.

"Can cats get rid of spiders?"

I was ready to leave.

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a/n - done. not the best, but i've certainly written worse. review? (:


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